Going up against a strong team very early in his Point Park Rugby Club career, freshman Elliot Carr not only made his teammates proud but received the team’s recognition as the “Man of the Match.” Despite his dedication to the sport and the team, though, Carr doesn’t understand what’s so great about his performance.

Why does he think he won “Man of the Match”?

“I honestly have no idea,” Carr said via interview after practice Wednesday.

Playing with a comparatively small 5’11”, 175-pound build, Elliot Carr is an athlete bringing success to the team, making strong bonds with teammates along the way.

Junior broadcasting major, fellow rugby player and friend Austin Kilheeney has a different take on Carr’s performance during that game.

“He’s just a modest guy,” said Kilheeney via phone interview Sunday. “He got the [expletive] beat out of him and he kept getting up.”

A lot goes into Carr’s athleticism, like his ability to use his mind to figure out strategies to take down opponents much bigger than him and his “maniac” like dedication to going to the gym, Kilheeney said.

The vote was nearly unanimous for Carr as “Man of the Match,” according to Jakob Como, who went on to heap praise on him.

“He held his own as if he had been playing for years,” Como said via phone interview Monday.

Carr is not entirely oblivious of his work ethic. Whenever he was walking back to the shuttle that takes the team back Downtown after practice one night, he was chatting with friends on the team about another player getting his face visibly beat up during a game. Carr explained just how much he actually wants to leave a game looking bruised and beaten.

“If my face doesn’t look like that after a game I’m gonna be pissed,” Carr said with a laugh. It shows he got work done during the game, he explained.

His ability to hold his own despite his stature is something that immediately struck Kilheeney when observing Carr. He had a strong reaction to first seeing lanky Carr do his thing.

“Jesus, what is going on?,” he recalled thinking.

Representing the rugby club’s deep sense of brotherhood and team spirit, Kilheeney saw Carr’s success during that game as one of his proudest moments on the team, he said.

“It’s like seeing your little brother win an award,” Kilheeney said.

Brotherhood is a running theme amongst these players. Love and generally looking out for your fellow players seems to constantly be running through their heads. Carr loves his teammates and sees all of them as friends, he explained.

“They’re like brothers,” Carr said. Como is the kind of captain to run up to new players and give them all of the pointers they need to understand what is going on during practice. It’s something Carr has experienced and appreciated.

“He’s definitely been standing out and helping me,” Carr said of his captain.

Off the field, Carr is an intelligence and national security major who is pursuing a place in the military after college. He has been since he was five years old, he explained.

“It’s a way to help people who need help, which is all I really want to do,” Carr said.

Freshman screenwriting major Ben Myers became friends with Carr this semester, having met him through mutual friends, he said via phone interview. He made it a point to say what so many others are saying about Carr.

“He’s always trying to undersell himself,” Myers said.